United States v. Wheeler
Encyclopedia
United States v. Wheeler, 254 U.S. 281
(1920), is an 8-to-1 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States
which held that the Constitution
alone did not grant the federal government the power to prosecute kidnappers
, and that only the states
had the authority to punish a private citizen's unlawful violation of another's freedom of movement
. The case was a landmark interpretation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause
of the Constitution, and contained a classic legal statement of the right to travel which continues to undergird American jurisprudence.
(or IWW, a labor union
), struck
the Phelps Dodge Corporation and other mining companies in the town of Bisbee, Arizona
. Nearly 3,000 miners (about 38 percent of the town's total population) walked out. The strike was a peaceful one. However, Walter S. Douglas, president of Phelps Dodge, was determined to break the strike.
On July 11, Douglas and other Phelps Dodge corporate executives met with Cochise County
Sheriff Harry Wheeler to conspire
to seize, by force of arms, all the striking workers, forcibly transport (deport
) them several hundred miles away from Bisbee, and abandon them in another desert town without food, clothing or funds. To this end, Sheriff Wheeler recruited and deputized 2,200 men from Bisbee and the nearby town of Douglas
to act as a posse
. Phelps Dodge officials also met with executives of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad
, who agreed to provide rail transportation for any deportees. Phelps Dodge and the other employers provided Sheriff Wheeler with a list of all the men on strike, as well as suspected IWW sympathizers.
At 6:30 a.m. on the morning of July 12, the 2,200 deputies moved through town and arrested every man on their list as well as any man who refused to work in the mines. About 2,000 men were seized and taken by armed guards to a baseball stadium two miles away. Several hundred men were freed after being permitted to denounce the IWW. At 11:00 a.m., 23 cattle cars
belonging to the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad arrived in Bisbee, and the remaining 1,286 arrestees were forced at gunpoint to board the train. The detainees were transported 200 miles (321.9 km) for 16 hours through the desert without food or water. They were unloaded at Hermanas, New Mexico, without money or transportation at 3:00 a.m. on July 13 and told not to return to Bisbee or they would suffer physical harm.
The Luna County
sheriff and New Mexico
Governor Washington E. Lindsey
contacted President
Woodrow Wilson
for assistance. Wilson ordered U.S. Army
troops to escort the men to Columbus, New Mexico
. The deportees were housed in tents meant for Mexican refugees who had fled across the border to escape the Army's Pancho Villa Expedition
. The men were allowed to stay in the camp until September 17, 1917.
Sheriff Wheeler established armed guards at all entrances to Bisbee and Douglas. Any citizen seeking to exit or enter the town over the next several months had to have a "passport" issued by Wheeler. Any adult male in town who was not known to the sheriff's men was brought before a secret sheriff's kangaroo court
. Hundreds of citizens were tried, and most of them deported and threatened with lynching
if they returned.
The deported citizens of Bisbee pleaded with President Wilson for law enforcement assistance in returning to their homes. In October 1917, Wilson appointed a commission of five individuals, led by Secretary of Labor
William B. Wilson
(with assistance from Assistant Secretary of Labor Felix Frankfurter
), to investigate labor disputes in Arizona. The commission heard testimony during the first five days of November 1917. In its final report, issued on November 6, 1917, the commission declared the deportations "wholly illegal and without authority in law, either State or Federal."
On May 15, 1918, the U.S. Department of Justice
ordered the arrest of 21 mining company executives and several Bisbee and Cochise County elected leaders and law enforcement officers. The indictment contained four counts. Three counts alleged conspiracy to violate §19 of the United States Criminal Code. A fourth count was dropped before trial. The indictments did not reference any federal law, as no law in existence at the time made kidnapping (or abduction, felonious or unlawful restraint, or felonious or unlawful imprisonment) a crime. Thus, the government was forced to rely on a dubious claim of an implied federal power in order to prosecute Wheeler and the others.
The defense, led by a Phelps Dodge corporate attorney (provided pro bono
), filed a pre-trial motion in a federal district court
to release the 21 men on the grounds that no federal laws had been violated. In Wheeler v. United States, 254 Fed. Rep. 611 (1919), the district court threw out the indictments on the grounds that, absent specific statutory authorization, the Constitution did not grant the United States the authority to punish the alleged illegal acts.
The Justice Department appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. W. C. Herron, a Washington, D.C.
-based attorney and brother-in-law of former President William Howard Taft
, argued the case for the United States. Former Associate Justice
and future Chief Justice
Charles Evans Hughes
led the team which argued the case for Phelps Dodge.
wrote the opinion for the 8-to-1 majority, in which the judgment of the district court was affirmed. Associate Justice John Hessin Clarke
dissented, but wrote no opinion.
White opened the majority's decision by reviewing at length the four indictments and briefly describing the ruling of the federal district court. Then, in a section widely quoted in American jurisprudence for the next century, White described the fundamental right which was at issue:
White next outlined the history of the "privileges and immunities" clause of Article IV, Sec. 2, of the U.S. Constitution. In the space of less than one sentence, White came to the landmark conclusion that only the states had enforcement authority over the "privileges and immunities" mentioned in Article IV. The "privileges and immunity" clause, White wrote, was a linear descendent of a similar if limited clause in the Articles of Confederation
. "[The] Constitution plainly intended to preserve and enforce the limitation..." White reasoned, and thus "the continued possession by the States of the reserved power to deal with free residence, ingress and egress, cannot be denied."
The principle of comity
enshrined in Art. IV, Sec. 2, is one of the most fundamental principles in the Constitution, White claimed. It was, he asserted, the very basis for the Union. The right encompassed not only travel between the separate states but movement within a state as well. But while the Constitution fused these two rights into one, it reserved exclusively to the states the power to enforce these rights—except when a state violated the rule of comity.
Relying exclusively on Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36
(1873) and United States v. Harris
, 106 U.S. 629
(1883), White noted that Art. IV, Sec. 2, may be invoked solely when a state actor
is involved. White distinguished Crandall v. Nevada
, 73 U.S. 35
(1868), by noting that that decision had involved state action.
United States v. Wheeler identified a major omission in federal criminal law (the lack of a federal kidnapping statute), but it would take a major national tragedy to rectify the problem. In most common law
jurisdictions, kidnapping had been outlawed by the courts, not by statute. But the Supreme Court had held in United States v. Hudson and Goodwin
that the Constitution prohibited common law crimes. Not until after the Lindbergh kidnapping
in 1932—which ended in the death of 21-month-old Charles Lindbergh, Jr.—did Congress
pass a law
prohibiting kidnapping.
Several of the deported citizens brought civil actions against Wheeler, Douglas and the others. But in State v. Wootton, Crim. No. 2685 (Cochise County, Ariz. Sept. 13, 1919), a jury refused to find in favor of the complainants and give them relief. Defendant Wootton argued that the IWW members were such a threat to public safety that necessity
demanded their removal. The jury agreed, making this one of the rare times in American law in which the necessity defense was successfully used. After this failure at law, nearly all the remaining civil suits were dropped (although a handful were settled for small sums of money).
Few if any of the deported citizens ever returned to Bisbee.
ruling in Corfield v. Coryell
, 6 Fed. Cas. 546
(1823), and included the Supreme Court decisions in Paul v. Virginia
, 75 U.S. 168
(1869), Ward v. Maryland, 79 U.S. 418
(1871), the Slaughter-House Cases (1873) and United States v. Harris (1883). All these decisions had rejected federal protection of important constitutional rights. But although Wheeler stood firmly in the middle of an established stream of constitutional law, the Supreme Court itself began rejecting the rationales contained in Wheeler a few years later. Finally, in United States v. Guest
, 383 U.S. 745
(1966), the Supreme Court overruled Chief Justice White's conclusion that the federal government could protect the right to travel only against state infringement.
Indirectly, however, United States v. Wheeler had a much larger impact. For many years, the roots of the Constitution's "privileges and immunities" clause had only vaguely been determined. In 1823, the circuit court in Corfield had provided a list of the rights (some fundamental, some not) which the clause could cover. The Wheeler court dramatically changed this. By reasoning that the clause derived from Article IV of the Articles of Confederation, the decision suggested a narrower set of rights than those enumerated in Corfield, but also more clearly defined those rights as absolutely fundamental.
The Supreme Court's rejection of Wheeler's state actor rationale but acceptance of its strong defense of the right to travel led to a number of additional court decisions and the establishment of a new constitutional test. In Kent v. Dulles
, 357 U.S. 116
(1958), the Court held that the federal government may not restrict the right to travel without due process
. Six years later, the Court struck down a federal ban restricting travel by communists (Aptheker v. Secretary of State
, 378 U.S. 500
(1964)). But the court struggled to find a way to protect legitimate government interests (such as national security) in light of these decisions. Just a year after Aptheker, the Supreme Court fashioned the rational relationship test for constitutionality in Zemel v. Rusk
, 381 U.S. 1
(1965), as a way of reconciling the rights of the individual with the interests of the state.
The Wheeler Court's establishment of a strong constitutional right to travel has also had far-reaching and unintended effects. For example, the Supreme Court overturned state prohibitions on welfare payments to individuals who had not resided within the jurisdiction for at least one year as an impermissible burden on the right to travel (Shapiro v. Thompson
, 394 U.S. 618
(1969)). The Court has used Wheeler to strike down one-year residency requirements for voting in state elections (Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330
(1972)), one-year waiting periods before receiving state-provided medical care (Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250
(1974)), civil service preferences for state veterans (Attorney Gen. of New York v. Soto-Lopez, 476 U.S. 898
(1986)), and higher fishing and hunting license fees for out-of-state residents (Baldwin v. Fish & Game Comm'n of Montana, 436 U.S. 371
(1978)).
The Wheeler decision may yet have even farther-reaching implications. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that freedom of movement is closely related to freedom of association
and to freedom of expression
. Strong constitutional protection for the right to travel may have significant implications for state attempts to limit abortion rights
, ban or refuse to recognize same-sex marriage
, and enact anti-crime or consumer protection
laws. Wheeler may even undermine current Court-fashioned concepts of federalism
.
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1920), is an 8-to-1 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
which held that the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
alone did not grant the federal government the power to prosecute kidnappers
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, and that only the states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
had the authority to punish a private citizen's unlawful violation of another's freedom of movement
Freedom of movement
Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...
. The case was a landmark interpretation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause
Privileges and Immunities Clause
The Privileges and Immunities Clause prevents a state from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner...
of the Constitution, and contained a classic legal statement of the right to travel which continues to undergird American jurisprudence.
Background
On June 26, 1917, Local 800 of the Industrial Workers of the WorldIndustrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
(or IWW, a labor union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
), struck
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
the Phelps Dodge Corporation and other mining companies in the town of Bisbee, Arizona
Bisbee, Arizona
Bisbee is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, 82 miles southeast of Tucson. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 6,177...
. Nearly 3,000 miners (about 38 percent of the town's total population) walked out. The strike was a peaceful one. However, Walter S. Douglas, president of Phelps Dodge, was determined to break the strike.
On July 11, Douglas and other Phelps Dodge corporate executives met with Cochise County
Cochise County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*78.5% White*4.2% Black*1.2% Native American*1.9% Asian*0.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*4.0% Two or more races*9.6% Other races*32.4% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
Sheriff Harry Wheeler to conspire
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to seize, by force of arms, all the striking workers, forcibly transport (deport
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
) them several hundred miles away from Bisbee, and abandon them in another desert town without food, clothing or funds. To this end, Sheriff Wheeler recruited and deputized 2,200 men from Bisbee and the nearby town of Douglas
Douglas, Arizona
Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico and a history of mining.The population was 14,312 at the 2000 census...
to act as a posse
Posse
Posse may refer to:* Posse comitatus , a group of men assembled to assist in law enforcement* Posse , starring Kirk Douglas* Posse , starring Mario van Peebles...
. Phelps Dodge officials also met with executives of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad
The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad was a short-line American railway company which operated in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, with line extensions across the international border into Mexico. The railroad was known as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad from 1888 to 1902.-Founding:James...
, who agreed to provide rail transportation for any deportees. Phelps Dodge and the other employers provided Sheriff Wheeler with a list of all the men on strike, as well as suspected IWW sympathizers.
At 6:30 a.m. on the morning of July 12, the 2,200 deputies moved through town and arrested every man on their list as well as any man who refused to work in the mines. About 2,000 men were seized and taken by armed guards to a baseball stadium two miles away. Several hundred men were freed after being permitted to denounce the IWW. At 11:00 a.m., 23 cattle cars
Stock car (rail)
In railroad terminology, a stock car or cattle wagon is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock to market...
belonging to the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad arrived in Bisbee, and the remaining 1,286 arrestees were forced at gunpoint to board the train. The detainees were transported 200 miles (321.9 km) for 16 hours through the desert without food or water. They were unloaded at Hermanas, New Mexico, without money or transportation at 3:00 a.m. on July 13 and told not to return to Bisbee or they would suffer physical harm.
The Luna County
Luna County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*77.7% White*1.1% Black*1.3% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.6% Two or more races*16.8% Other races*61.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
sheriff and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
Governor Washington E. Lindsey
Washington Ellsworth Lindsey
Washington Ellsworth Lindsey was an American politician and the third Governor of New Mexico.- Early life :...
contacted President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
for assistance. Wilson ordered U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
troops to escort the men to Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus is a village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,765 at the 2000 census. The town is named after 15th century explorer Christopher Columbus.-History:...
. The deportees were housed in tents meant for Mexican refugees who had fled across the border to escape the Army's Pancho Villa Expedition
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition and sometimes colloquially referred to as the Punitive Expedition—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican insurgent Francisco "Pancho" Villa...
. The men were allowed to stay in the camp until September 17, 1917.
Sheriff Wheeler established armed guards at all entrances to Bisbee and Douglas. Any citizen seeking to exit or enter the town over the next several months had to have a "passport" issued by Wheeler. Any adult male in town who was not known to the sheriff's men was brought before a secret sheriff's kangaroo court
Kangaroo court
A kangaroo court is "a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted".The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or...
. Hundreds of citizens were tried, and most of them deported and threatened with lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
if they returned.
The deported citizens of Bisbee pleaded with President Wilson for law enforcement assistance in returning to their homes. In October 1917, Wilson appointed a commission of five individuals, led by Secretary of Labor
United States Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is the head of the Department of Labor who exercises control over the department and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies....
William B. Wilson
William Bauchop Wilson
William Bauchop Wilson was a American labor leader and politician. He is best remembered for his service as the first Secretary of Labor between 1913 and 1921 under President Woodrow Wilson.-Early life:...
(with assistance from Assistant Secretary of Labor Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born into a Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. He was the third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter...
), to investigate labor disputes in Arizona. The commission heard testimony during the first five days of November 1917. In its final report, issued on November 6, 1917, the commission declared the deportations "wholly illegal and without authority in law, either State or Federal."
On May 15, 1918, the U.S. Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
ordered the arrest of 21 mining company executives and several Bisbee and Cochise County elected leaders and law enforcement officers. The indictment contained four counts. Three counts alleged conspiracy to violate §19 of the United States Criminal Code. A fourth count was dropped before trial. The indictments did not reference any federal law, as no law in existence at the time made kidnapping (or abduction, felonious or unlawful restraint, or felonious or unlawful imprisonment) a crime. Thus, the government was forced to rely on a dubious claim of an implied federal power in order to prosecute Wheeler and the others.
The defense, led by a Phelps Dodge corporate attorney (provided pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
), filed a pre-trial motion in a federal district court
United States District Court for the District of Arizona
The United States District Court for the District of Arizona is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Arizona. Court is held in the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and Prescott. The district was created on June 20, 1910, by 36 Stat. 557...
to release the 21 men on the grounds that no federal laws had been violated. In Wheeler v. United States, 254 Fed. Rep. 611 (1919), the district court threw out the indictments on the grounds that, absent specific statutory authorization, the Constitution did not grant the United States the authority to punish the alleged illegal acts.
The Justice Department appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. W. C. Herron, a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based attorney and brother-in-law of former President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, argued the case for the United States. Former Associate Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
and future Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
led the team which argued the case for Phelps Dodge.
Decision
Chief Justice Edward Douglass WhiteEdward Douglass White
Edward Douglass White, Jr. , American politician and jurist, was a United States senator, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. He was best known for formulating the Rule of Reason standard of antitrust law. He also sided with the...
wrote the opinion for the 8-to-1 majority, in which the judgment of the district court was affirmed. Associate Justice John Hessin Clarke
John Hessin Clarke
John Hessin Clarke was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1916 to 1922.-Early life:...
dissented, but wrote no opinion.
White opened the majority's decision by reviewing at length the four indictments and briefly describing the ruling of the federal district court. Then, in a section widely quoted in American jurisprudence for the next century, White described the fundamental right which was at issue:
- In all the States from the beginning down to the adoption of the Articles of Confederation the citizens thereof possessed the fundamental right, inherent in citizens of all free governments, peacefully to dwell within the limits of their respective States, to move at will from place to place therein, and to have free ingress thereto and egress therefrom, with a consequent authority in the States to forbid and punish violations of this fundamental right.
White next outlined the history of the "privileges and immunities" clause of Article IV, Sec. 2, of the U.S. Constitution. In the space of less than one sentence, White came to the landmark conclusion that only the states had enforcement authority over the "privileges and immunities" mentioned in Article IV. The "privileges and immunity" clause, White wrote, was a linear descendent of a similar if limited clause in the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...
. "
The principle of comity
Comity
In law, comity specifically refers to legal reciprocity—the principle that one jurisdiction will extend certain courtesies to other nations , particularly by recognizing the validity and effect of their executive, legislative, and judicial acts...
enshrined in Art. IV, Sec. 2, is one of the most fundamental principles in the Constitution, White claimed. It was, he asserted, the very basis for the Union. The right encompassed not only travel between the separate states but movement within a state as well. But while the Constitution fused these two rights into one, it reserved exclusively to the states the power to enforce these rights—except when a state violated the rule of comity.
Relying exclusively on Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1873) and United States v. Harris
United States v. Harris
United States v. Harris, , sometimes referred to as the Ku Klux Case, was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to penalize crimes such as assault and murder. It declared that the local governments have the power to...
, 106 U.S. 629
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1883), White noted that Art. IV, Sec. 2, may be invoked solely when a state actor
State actor
In United States law, a state actor is a person who is acting on behalf of a governmental body, and is therefore subject to regulation under the United States Bill of Rights, including the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which prohibit the federal and state governments from violating...
is involved. White distinguished Crandall v. Nevada
Crandall v. Nevada
Crandall v. Nevada, 73 U.S. 35 was a U.S. Supreme Court case which established that a state cannot inhibit a person from leaving the state by taxing them. The opinion of the Court was written by Justice Miller. Chief Justice Chase and Justice Clifford concurred."But if the government has these...
, 73 U.S. 35
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1868), by noting that that decision had involved state action.
Aftermath
In United States v. Wheeler, the majority never discussed whether Sheriff Wheeler had acted in his capacity as a state actor. It remains unclear whether the government even raised the issue at trial or on appeal.United States v. Wheeler identified a major omission in federal criminal law (the lack of a federal kidnapping statute), but it would take a major national tragedy to rectify the problem. In most common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
jurisdictions, kidnapping had been outlawed by the courts, not by statute. But the Supreme Court had held in United States v. Hudson and Goodwin
United States v. Hudson and Goodwin
United States v. Hudson and Goodwin, 11 U.S. 32 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that Congress must first enact a law criminalizing an activity, attach a penalty, and give the federal courts jurisdiction over the offense in order for the court to render a...
that the Constitution prohibited common law crimes. Not until after the Lindbergh kidnapping
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
in 1932—which ended in the death of 21-month-old Charles Lindbergh, Jr.—did Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
pass a law
Federal Kidnapping Act
Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping , the United States Congress adopted a federal kidnapping statute—popularly known as the Federal Kidnapping Act — which was intended to let federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had...
prohibiting kidnapping.
Several of the deported citizens brought civil actions against Wheeler, Douglas and the others. But in State v. Wootton, Crim. No. 2685 (Cochise County, Ariz. Sept. 13, 1919), a jury refused to find in favor of the complainants and give them relief. Defendant Wootton argued that the IWW members were such a threat to public safety that necessity
Necessity
In U.S. criminal law, necessity may be either a possible justification or an exculpation for breaking the law. Defendants seeking to rely on this defense argue that they should not be held liable for their actions as a crime because their conduct was necessary to prevent some greater harm and when...
demanded their removal. The jury agreed, making this one of the rare times in American law in which the necessity defense was successfully used. After this failure at law, nearly all the remaining civil suits were dropped (although a handful were settled for small sums of money).
Few if any of the deported citizens ever returned to Bisbee.
Assessment
United States v. Wheeler did not have a direct major impact on American constitutional law. The case was only one of a long line of decisions which extended as far back as the circuit courtUnited States circuit court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...
ruling in Corfield v. Coryell
Corfield v. Coryell
Corfield v. Coryell was an 1823 federal circuit court case decided by Justice Bushrod Washington while riding circuit...
, 6 Fed. Cas. 546
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1823), and included the Supreme Court decisions in Paul v. Virginia
Paul v. Virginia
Paul v. Virginia, 75 U.S. 168 , was a historic case in corporate law in which the United States Supreme Court held that a corporation is not a citizen within the meaning of the Privileges and Immunities Clause...
, 75 U.S. 168
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1869), Ward v. Maryland, 79 U.S. 418
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1871), the Slaughter-House Cases (1873) and United States v. Harris (1883). All these decisions had rejected federal protection of important constitutional rights. But although Wheeler stood firmly in the middle of an established stream of constitutional law, the Supreme Court itself began rejecting the rationales contained in Wheeler a few years later. Finally, in United States v. Guest
United States v. Guest
United States v. Guest 383 U.S. 745 is a United States Supreme Court opinion, authored by Justice Potter Stewart, in which the court extended the protection of the 14th Amendment to citizens who suffer rights deprivations at the hands of private conspiracies, where there is minimal state...
, 383 U.S. 745
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1966), the Supreme Court overruled Chief Justice White's conclusion that the federal government could protect the right to travel only against state infringement.
Indirectly, however, United States v. Wheeler had a much larger impact. For many years, the roots of the Constitution's "privileges and immunities" clause had only vaguely been determined. In 1823, the circuit court in Corfield had provided a list of the rights (some fundamental, some not) which the clause could cover. The Wheeler court dramatically changed this. By reasoning that the clause derived from Article IV of the Articles of Confederation, the decision suggested a narrower set of rights than those enumerated in Corfield, but also more clearly defined those rights as absolutely fundamental.
The right to travel and what that implies
Among the rights specifically mentioned in United States v. Wheeler is the right to travel. The right to travel had been mentioned in Corfield and recognized as a fundamental right. But the Wheeler court was the first to locate the right in the privileges and immunities clause, providing the right with a specific guarantee of constitutional protection. Chief Justice White's statement of the right to travel (quoted above) is frequently cited by courts even in the early 21st century and remains the classic formulation of the right to travel.The Supreme Court's rejection of Wheeler's state actor rationale but acceptance of its strong defense of the right to travel led to a number of additional court decisions and the establishment of a new constitutional test. In Kent v. Dulles
Kent v. Dulles
Kent v. Dulles 357 U.S. 116 is a landmark case on the right to travel and passport restrictions as they relate to First Amendment free speech rights...
, 357 U.S. 116
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1958), the Court held that the federal government may not restrict the right to travel without due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
. Six years later, the Court struck down a federal ban restricting travel by communists (Aptheker v. Secretary of State
Aptheker v. Secretary of State
Aptheker v. Secretary of State 378 U.S. 500 is a landmark case on the right to travel and passport restrictions as they relate to Fifth Amendment due process rights and First Amendment free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association rights...
, 378 U.S. 500
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1964)). But the court struggled to find a way to protect legitimate government interests (such as national security) in light of these decisions. Just a year after Aptheker, the Supreme Court fashioned the rational relationship test for constitutionality in Zemel v. Rusk
Zemel v. Rusk
Zemel v. Rusk, , 381 U.S. 1 is a case on the right to travel and area restrictions on passports , holding that the Secretary of State is statutorily authorized to refuse to validate the passports of United States citizens for travel to Cuba and that the exercise of that authority is...
, 381 U.S. 1
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1965), as a way of reconciling the rights of the individual with the interests of the state.
The Wheeler Court's establishment of a strong constitutional right to travel has also had far-reaching and unintended effects. For example, the Supreme Court overturned state prohibitions on welfare payments to individuals who had not resided within the jurisdiction for at least one year as an impermissible burden on the right to travel (Shapiro v. Thompson
Shapiro v. Thompson
Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 , was a Supreme Court decision that helped to establish a fundamental "right to travel" in U.S. law. Although the Constitution does not mention the right to travel, it is implied by the other rights given in the Constitution...
, 394 U.S. 618
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1969)). The Court has used Wheeler to strike down one-year residency requirements for voting in state elections (Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1972)), one-year waiting periods before receiving state-provided medical care (Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1974)), civil service preferences for state veterans (Attorney Gen. of New York v. Soto-Lopez, 476 U.S. 898
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1986)), and higher fishing and hunting license fees for out-of-state residents (Baldwin v. Fish & Game Comm'n of Montana, 436 U.S. 371
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1978)).
The Wheeler decision may yet have even farther-reaching implications. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that freedom of movement is closely related to freedom of association
Freedom of association
Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
and to freedom of expression
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. Strong constitutional protection for the right to travel may have significant implications for state attempts to limit abortion rights
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
, ban or refuse to recognize same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
, and enact anti-crime or consumer protection
Consumer protection
Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...
laws. Wheeler may even undermine current Court-fashioned concepts of federalism
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
.